SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now it's time for sports.
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SIMON: Championship weekend at Wimbledon and the MLB All-Star break. Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media joins us. Howard, thanks for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Hi, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine, thanks. And on one of the monitors, we have, along with all the news sources, is the Wimbledon women's final, 'cause, of course, it's Jasmine Paolini against Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. Game's underway right now. What's it look like?
BRYANT: We've got a match. We've got a championship match. And we've got the roof open. Outstanding, wonderful stories on both. Krejcikova, 2021 French Open winner, already a major champion. But the upset story, of course, is Jasmine Paolini, who, 28 years old, up to this point, had never won a match on grass. And now she is not only in the Wimbledon final, but she's backing up a French Open final just a month ago. And so fantastic story and could be the first Italian to ever win a Wimbledon championship, male or female. Wonderful story.
SIMON: And, of course, the men's final tomorrow is a rematch of last year's epic, and I don't use the term loosely. Of course, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. There is, you know, I'm just coming - catching up with the fact there's a 16-year age gap between the two, but you wouldn't know it from the way they play.
BRYANT: No, and you also wouldn't know that Novak Djokovic is coming off of surgery a month ago.
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: He withdrew from the French Open because of a knee problem in here. He is pretty much running the table to get to yet another Wimbledon championship, going for his 25th major, obviously, in the - far ahead of Carlos Alcaraz, who, by the way, is a history maker of his own. He's a defending champion here. He has already, you know, got three majors. He's 3-0 in finals. And yes, as you said, Djokovic and Alcaraz put on a show last year, Alcaraz winning in five sets. I don't think Novak Djokovic, outside of the French Open and Rafa Nadal has ever lost a final in back-to back-years to the same player. And so this is going to be great. You know, he wants revenge. And -but Alcaraz is such a wonderful talent.
SIMON: All-Star Game, Tuesday, Arlington, Texas. All right. In the National League, the Phillies seem to be the strongest team by far. I took a look at the stats as a matter of fact before coming up with that sentence. And in the American League, the Yankees, the Orioles, and you know what I'm going to do - Cleveland rocks. Cleveland rocks.
BRYANT: You've been waiting for that.
SIMON: I have been waiting for, yeah, quite some time. So what's your view at mid-season?
BRYANT: I think you're right. Obviously, the Dodgers do what they do, which is win, win, win win every year, and then we'll see what they do in the postseason, but they're up there. The Phillies are the best team in baseball. And the Phillies have a lot to play for, considering that the Phillies last year were on the cusp of the World Series, and it all slipped away. So they are extra motivated.
But you're right. In the American League, looking at the standings, looking at how these teams are playing, the Boston Red Sox are a surprise. No one expected much from them. Cleveland, very, very good team. The Yankees' record is better than how they're playing right now. They started out great, and they've actually been the worst team in baseball from about the past 30 games. And so it's going to be a great second half of the season, very much looking forward to seeing who can hang in there and who's built for 162 games. But don't forget the Baltimore Orioles as well. They're a team on the upswing as well. So there's a lot of good teams out there. And...
SIMON: What did the Orioles do to get so much better after so many years languishing?
BRYANT: They lost a lot, Scott. That's what happens when you lose. You get high draft picks, and if you're lucky, you draft well. You're in the basement all those years. Look at the Houston Astros. They went out and lost - what? - a hundred games three years in a row, something like that. And now they've been a very, very good team for the last several years.
SIMON: So the White Sox and Cubs are on a path for success this season, right?
BRYANT: The White Sox are a stunning, stunning example of how not to go. They went out in 2021. They were in the playoffs, and now they're one of the worst teams in baseball in just three years - not pretty.
SIMON: Well, Howard Bryant...
BRYANT: There's hope for you, Scott. I know it's Chicago. There's hope for you.
SIMON: Always is. Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media. Thanks so much for being with us.
BRYANT: My pleasure, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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